This book is very popular with undergraduate students for the last seven years, since its first edition saw the light of the day. But in the present fourth edition, there is a sea change as compared to the first edition. The get up and presentation is refreshing with important informations given in coloured blocks. In the beginning of each chapter, “major concepts” and “specific objectives” are highlighted so that the undergraduates know what to study and emphasise in the vast ocean of knowledge. At the end of all 42 chapters, questions and answers are also given.
The new version keeps the general format and illustrations of the earlier text but has added many new topics like atherosclerosis, obesity, toxic substances in food, environmental pollution etc., as per latest MCI syllabus. This makes the book fully equipped for the present day need of students. This is an easy readable text, which presents its information in a fashion that is readily accessible to both teachers and students.
It may be said that the authors have been successful to a large extent in presenting a complete and comprehensive textbook of Medical Biochemistry as per today's need. But the volume of the edition has become very big, considering the fact that the duration of I MBBS is only one year now. Therefore, not all undergraduate students will find the book interesting from the examination point of view. The quality of paper and the binding need improvement. Despite these shortcomings, this book has major strengths and the students, clinical chemists and other laboratory professionals should find this a very useful, detailed and invaluable text.